Processors

In recent months, the race between the two major industry playersto bring dual-core processing to the masses has heated up. On April 4th, Intel delivered its first dual-core Pentium offering in the form of the Intel Pentium Extreme Edition 840. AMD was soon to follow, on May 9th, releasing its dual-core Athlon 64 X2 4800+. While Intel may have been first to deliver a dual-core processor for the masses, AMD's updated X2 processor architecture brought with it the path of least resistance by supporting existing socket 939-based hardware. In fact, AMD's dual-core...Read more...

Though clock speed is no longer a true measure of processor performance, it's hard to argue with a few hundred more MHz no matter which CPU architecture you'd consider. Regardless, it's clear the industry as a whole, as well as the world's largest chip manufacturer, Intel, has now embarked on an effort to provide more computing power per clock cycle, focusing on IPC (Instructions Per Clock Cycles) metrics as better manifestations of overall performance. As the PC and workstation marketplaces now look toward a future of dual-core processors, Intel continues a parallel effort of...Read more...

The folks out in Sunnyvale have been releasing new additions to their Athlon 64 processor lineup with the kind of fevered pace we've come to expect from major-league semiconductor manufacturers. So too has the ever-dominant Intel. With 78,000 employees worldwide and almost 10 times the revenue of its nearest competitor at $30 billion annually, its this kind of critical mass that allows a company to pour endless resources into a program and drive higher reaching product line goals. Earlier this month, we brought you a view of AMD's new Athlon FX-55 and Athlon 64 4000+ processors...Read more...

Intel Pentium 4 3.2GHz Performance Evaluation Another speed bump served up by Intel with ease By, Dave Altavilla June 23, 2003 Once again, Intel has decided to turn up the heat on their arch rival, AMD. In a sort of digital ying-yang, the battle for Performance Desktop and Workstation Processor leadership, presses on relentlessly. Like opposite yet mutual compliments, Intel releases the 3GHz P4 with 800MHz system bus and AMD lets fly with the Athlon XP 3200+. It's almost like nature intended it to be, isn't it? As Intel and AMD duke it out, in an effort to...Read more...

Intel's Pentium 4 3GHz With 800MHz System Bus And The i875P "Canterwood" Chipset More bandwidth and leading edge desktop technology for the P4 By, Dave Altavilla and Chris Angelini April 14, 2003 Time certainly does fly when you are clipping along at 3GHz, doesn't it? It has been a whole 5 months since Intel released their last processor speed bump. Intel actually let this one ride a little bit it seems. In early February, AMD let loose with their new "Barton" core based Athlon XP 3000+ (2.166GHz), in an effort to keep pace with Intel's brute...Read more...

Intel's Pentium 4 3.06GHz Processor Intel breaks 3GHz barrier and introduces Hyperthreading to the mainstream By, Dave Altavilla and Chris Angelini November 14, 2002 It was only two short months ago that we gave you our hands on experiences with Intel's last flagship processor for the PC, the 2.8GHz Pentium 4. As we neared what seemed to be an almost mythical clock speed of 3GHz, we paused to wonder for a moment, whether or not the average user could take advantage of the power of a Pentium 4 at this clock speed or the future Athlon XP3000+, for that matter. Again,...Read more...

Intel's Pentium 4 2GHz. Socket 478 Processor Breaking through the 2GHz. ceiling with ease By, Dave Altavilla August 27, 2001 Alright, I'll admit it... I was a William Shatner fan. That is to say, when old Bill played the all powerful James T. Kirk, I couldn't help but admire his swagger and command of the situation. Unfortunately, times change and old Bill finds himself stooping to the level of lame Priceline.com commercials. He's merely a shell of the man he use to be. Ahh, but I can still hear the words echoing in my head, "we must have more power Scotty!" ...Read more...

Intel's Pentium 4 1.8GHz. Processor Yielding additional gains in performance By, Dave Altavilla July 2, 2001 You may have heard this before but as the old saying goes, "image is everything". When it comes to microprocessors, MHz./GHz. speeds are typically what draw a consumer to a product. At this stage of the game, Intel seems to have that part of the routine down cold. Our latest lab test of the Pentium 4 Socket 423 Processor clocks in at 1.8GHz., a full 400MHz. ahead of their rival (now nemesis) AMD. Even though the numbers don't lie, so to speak,...Read more...

The Pentium 4 Bench Test Architecture and Performance Charting Of Intel's New Flagship By Dave Altavilla - November 20, 2000 An eternity has passed it seems, since Intel has released a processor based on an entirely new architecture. In actuality, it's been 5 years to be exact, since the P6 Micro-Architecture was introduced in 1995. Against the backdrop of the perpetual design cycles of the Semiconductor Industry, in 5 years a lot can change. However, mainstream processor base cores are not trivial to design. Also, Intel has a pretty good knack of leaving themselves...Read more...